Chargeback requests have surged since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as airlines have canceled flights, performers have postponed concerts and supply chain disruptions have delayed the delivery of many goods.
Thanks to their close relationship with the card networks, banks stand to benefit most from deals like Mastercard’s agreement to buy Finicity and Visa’s pending purchase of Plaid. The prospects for fintechs and consumers are dicier.
Mastercard has agreed to acquire Finicity for a reported price of $825 million, a move the card brand says will strengthen its open banking platform and expand financial services through more real-time access to data.
Payments processors are keeping a portion of payments as a reserve against potential disputes between cardholders and merchants. Small-business owners say the practice is eating into their profits.
An investment firm that has been pressuring large companies to enhance disclosures said that its efforts at JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon are gaining ground.
Mastercard disclosed its gender pay gap for the first time on Monday, saying that its female employees worldwide make 7.8% less than the men. The company said it is working toward parity.
Higher rates are looming for transactions on e-commerce sites, while merchants in certain services categories, such as real estate and education, will see fees decline, according to a document Visa sent to banks.
The bank raised its return-on-equity goals, based mostly on cost cuts and its core trading business; the Fed did raise the rate it pays on bank reserves.
